From His Invisible Wife to the World's Icon novel Chapter 12

The man's lips parted slightly, his voice slow and steady. "I know. I believe you."

"Pull up the security footage!" Lydia snapped, turning to the manager.

Lydia wasn't someone she could offend, but Frederick was the absolute authority in Averton's elite circles. His influence in the city was absolute; he was someone she definitely couldn't afford to cross.

Seeing Frederick favor Sierra...

The manager was at a total loss.

Hearing this, Sierra started crying pitifully. "Lydia, I really didn't do anything."

"How could you not believe me?"

"I'm your sister, would I try to ruin you?"

Her sister? She actually had the nerve to say that!

"If you didn't do anything, what are you afraid of?" she scoffed. "Or are you afraid of the truth coming out?"

"I..." Sierra's face drained of color. Just as she was panicking, Frederick gently took her hand to comfort her.

After soothing Sierra, Frederick looked at Lydia. The gentleness in his eyes morphed into utter indifference as he ordered his assistant, Caleb Grant, "Go check."

Caleb respectfully let the manager lead the way.

A few minutes later, Caleb returned. "Mr. Foster, the manager says they do routine maintenance on the cameras every Wednesday afternoon, so the footage is gone."

"How is that possible?" Lydia paled, murmuring to herself, only to be cut off by Frederick's impatient voice by her ear.

"Are you satisfied?"

His tone blamed her for being completely unreasonable.

Without waiting for her reply, he led Sierra toward the exit, his voice softening as if whispering to a lover.

"Why are you playing detective?"

"You must have too much time on your hands. I need to find you something to do."

"Frederick..." Sierra cooed, pressing herself against his arm.

Watching this, Lydia raised her voice. "I never once said I was in the fitting room. All I said was that I was calling the cops to arrest her, and she immediately started explaining herself to me."

"If this wasn't premeditated, how did she know I was in there?"

Their footsteps halted. Sierra looked at Frederick in a panic, biting her lip to explain. "Fre... Frederick... that's..."

"Mrs. Foster, I'm truly innocent. Your dress was sent back to the manufacturer for alterations and just arrived this morning. It costs tens of thousands of dollars; we would never dare tamper with it."

"What happened with the footage?" she asked the manager.

A luxury boutique would never do maintenance on a weekday!

She couldn't afford to offend Mr. Foster, but she couldn't lie to Mrs. Foster either.

The manager hesitated for a few seconds before telling the truth. "Mr. Foster's people deleted it."

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Foster, I'm just an employee."

"We'll issue a full refund for the dress and let you pick out another one. I hope you can let this go."

Frederick didn't just know what Sierra had done; he had completely wiped the evidence clean for her.

A chill crept up from the soles of her feet.

He wasn't worth her tears, but her heart still felt freezing cold.

She walked out of the boutique, desperate to call Joanna Quinn to find out how soon the divorce could be finalized. She didn't want to wait another second.

A few minutes later, the call connected.